How do I install the Publishing skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add stencila/publishing in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Publishing safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Publishing?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Publishing free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Publishing?

stencila (@stencila) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Publishing by stencila — Agent Skill

Name: Publishing
Author: stencila

Publishing

Publishing Stencila documents - rendering to HTML/PDF/DOCX with themes, building and pushing workspace sites, publishing to Ghost or Zenodo, and signing outputs with content credentials. Use when the user wants to publish, deploy a site, apply a theme, produce final outputs, or push to Ghost, Zenodo or Stencila Cloud.

stencila b49d497 3.4 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Publishing Stencila documents

Rendering final outputs

render executes a document and encodes it to one or more outputs:

NO_COLOR=1 stencila render article.smd article.html article.pdf --yes

Options that matter for publishing:

--to <FORMAT> — set the output format explicitly (otherwise inferred from each output's extension).
--theme <THEME> — theme for HTML/PDF outputs; stencila themes list shows what is available.
--standalone / --not-standalone — encode as a complete document (with header and footer) or a fragment.
--reproducible — encode outputs (where supported, e.g. DOCX, PDF) with links back to the source so the document can be reproduced.
--embed-media / --extract-media [<FOLDER>] — inline media as data URIs, or write it out to files.
Document parameters pass after --: stencila render template.smd out.html --yes -- --year=2024

Workspace sites

A workspace with a [site] section in stencila.toml can be built and served as a site:

NO_COLOR=1 stencila site show --yes      # details of the configured site
NO_COLOR=1 stencila site list --yes      # all routes, configured and file-implied
NO_COLOR=1 stencila site render dist --yes   # render the site to a directory
NO_COLOR=1 stencila site preview --yes   # local preview with live reload
NO_COLOR=1 stencila site push --yes      # push to Stencila Cloud

site add / site remove manage explicit routes; site domain, site access, and site branch manage the deployed site on Stencila Cloud.

Publishing to services

NO_COLOR=1 stencila publish ghost article.smd --yes    # Ghost blog post/page
NO_COLOR=1 stencila publish zenodo article.smd --yes   # Zenodo deposit
NO_COLOR=1 stencila publish stencila article.smd --yes # Stencila Cloud

Ghost: --post (default) or --page, --draft or --publish, --title, --slug, --tag, --schedule <SCHEDULE>. Requires --domain and --key (or the corresponding secrets, see stencila secrets).
Zenodo: starts as a draft deposit; --sandbox targets the Zenodo sandbox, --reserve-doi reserves a DOI, --doi supplies an existing one, plus metadata flags (--title, --description, --license, --keywords, --publication-date). Use --dry-run to see what would be deposited.

Content credentials (C2PA signing)

Rendered outputs and generated assets can carry signed content credentials. This is configured in stencila.toml rather than per-invocation:

# Simplest: enable with defaults (public profile, automatic signer)
content-credentials = true

# Or detailed configuration
[content-credentials]
enabled = true
profile = "public"   # public | private | full
signer = "auto"

The profile controls how much local detail (paths, environment) is embedded in the credential; use public for anything leaving the machine.

Before publishing

Render locally first and confirm there are no execution errors — publishing a document whose chunks error produces stale or missing outputs. See the execution skill.

---name: publishingdescription: Publishing Stencila documents - rendering to HTML/PDF/DOCX with themes, building and pushing workspace sites, publishing to Ghost or Zenodo, and signing outputs with content credentials. Use when the user wants to publish, deploy a site, apply a theme, produce final outputs, or push to Ghost, Zenodo or Stencila Cloud.---# Publishing Stencila documents## Rendering final outputs`render` executes a document and encodes it to one or more outputs:```shNO_COLOR=1 stencila render article.smd article.html article.pdf --yes```Options that matter for publishing:- `--to <FORMAT>` — set the output format explicitly (otherwise inferred from each output's extension).- `--theme <THEME>` — theme for HTML/PDF outputs; `stencila themes list` shows what is available.- `--standalone` / `--not-standalone` — encode as a complete document (with header and footer) or a fragment.- `--reproducible` — encode outputs (where supported, e.g. DOCX, PDF) with links back to the source so the document can be reproduced.- `--embed-media` / `--extract-media [<FOLDER>]` — inline media as data URIs, or write it out to files.- Document parameters pass after `--`: `stencila render template.smd out.html --yes -- --year=2024`## Workspace sitesA workspace with a `[site]` section in `stencila.toml` can be built andserved as a site:```shNO_COLOR=1 stencila site show --yes # details of the configured siteNO_COLOR=1 stencila site list --yes # all routes, configured and file-impliedNO_COLOR=1 stencila site render dist --yes # render the site to a directoryNO_COLOR=1 stencila site preview --yes # local preview with live reloadNO_COLOR=1 stencila site push --yes # push to Stencila Cloud````site add` / `site remove` manage explicit routes; `site domain`, `siteaccess`, and `site branch` manage the deployed site on Stencila Cloud.## Publishing to services```shNO_COLOR=1 stencila publish ghost article.smd --yes # Ghost blog post/pageNO_COLOR=1 stencila publish zenodo article.smd --yes # Zenodo depositNO_COLOR=1 stencila publish stencila article.smd --yes # Stencila Cloud```- Ghost: `--post` (default) or `--page`, `--draft` or `--publish`, `--title`, `--slug`, `--tag`, `--schedule <SCHEDULE>`. Requires `--domain` and `--key` (or the corresponding secrets, see `stencila secrets`).- Zenodo: starts as a draft deposit; `--sandbox` targets the Zenodo sandbox, `--reserve-doi` reserves a DOI, `--doi` supplies an existing one, plus metadata flags (`--title`, `--description`, `--license`, `--keywords`, `--publication-date`). Use `--dry-run` to see what would be deposited.## Content credentials (C2PA signing)Rendered outputs and generated assets can carry signed content credentials.This is configured in `stencila.toml` rather than per-invocation:```toml# Simplest: enable with defaults (public profile, automatic signer)content-credentials = true# Or detailed configuration[content-credentials]enabled = trueprofile = "public" # public | private | fullsigner = "auto"```The profile controls how much local detail (paths, environment) is embeddedin the credential; use `public` for anything leaving the machine.## Before publishingRender locally first and confirm there are no execution errors — publishinga document whose chunks error produces stale or missing outputs. See the`execution` skill.

Frequently asked questions